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eTown Interview – Bill Ritter – America’s Energy Revolution

08.21.16

An energy revolution is under way in the U.S. and beyond, and Gov. Bill Ritter wants everyone to know about it.

Bill Ritter, the 41st governor of Colorado who served from 2007-2011, has authored a book that discusses the forces behind the energy revolution, new ways to think about energy, and the future of fossil and renewable fuels.

As governor, Ritter helped establish Colorado as a national and international leader in clean energy. In his book, Ritter discusses how sunlight and other sustainable resources are now the fastest-growing sources of energy in the U.S. and worldwide. At an increasing clip, communities are switching to 100 percent renewable energy, and climate change is one of the biggest issues in the 2016 election. The urgent need to prevent climate change is causing people around the planet to question their reliance on carbon-intensive coal and oil.

Shifting the dominant consciousness

Ritter discusses shifting what he calls the “dominant consciousness” of a 20th-century, fossil fuel-based economy, and replacing it with a 21st-century collective consciousness focused on clean, renewable sources. “It’s the 21st century, and we need a 21st-century economy. There’s great hope that we can achieve that,” Ritter said.

Using the word ‘revolution’ in the book title was no accident, Ritter said.

“I have become really convinced that, first of all, the change that’s necessary – and is beginning – is pretty dramatic,” Ritter said. “And secondly, there is an element of time here … we cannot take our time making this transition without doing some really significant harm to the globe.”

Common ground is possible, and necessary

Transitioning to a 21st-century energy economy that reduces fossil fuel dependence involves complex intersections of economics, technology, politics and public policy, Ritter says. But Ritter’s time in office, and his work with the Center for the New Energy Economy, have shown him that common ground and “reaching across the aisle” are both possible, and necessary.

The book is being published on the heels of the historic Conference of Parties in Paris, where Ritter was an invited speaker on Colorado’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts. The COP21 brought 196 nations together in a historic agreement to scale back carbon emissions across the globe.

“That historic moment [in Paris] built upon all the hope that I had already seen here, domestically in the United States,” Ritter said.